When We Write the Stars

Chapter 10: Hayden

 "She's a witch! Burn her already!" – Monte Python and the Holy Grail

     Cassie's apartment wasn't at all what I was expecting. I'm not entirely sure what I expected, but I didn't picture something so normal. It was similar to mine, all the student housing in the area was set up pretty similarly, but there was something just more homey about her place. The lack of hockey gear all over the place probably had something to do with that.

     Their kitchen looked like it got used a lot more than ours did, but was still relatively clean, and there were decorations and throw pillows everywhere, and possibly the most Cassie thing ever, a giant whiteboard blocking the window in the living room with all sorts of stuff written on it about grad schools and med schools.

     I slipped my shoes off, hung my coat on one of the hooks by the door, and followed her over to the living room.

     "My roommates are at this poetry thing in Vancouver tonight and probably won't be back until you're gone," she says as we sit down, explaining why it's so much quieter here than my place usually is.

     "Cool," I respond, "So I was thinking, we should do a double feature tonight, get two movies out of the way so that way we don't have to meet up as often."

     For a split second, I think there's maybe a hint of disappointment on her face, but I've got to be imagining it because she responds with, "That's probably a good idea since both our schedules seem to be getting pretty packed."

     "So we can start with Dirty Dancing, then do Crazy Rich Asians," I say, trying to remember the order of the movies we'd decided to watch.

     "Sounds good to me," she replies turning Dirty Dancing on and then grabbing her notebook to take notes for the movie. I always feel so bad when she pulls her notebook out because I don't take notes, but seriously this project does not require the sheer amount of notes she takes.

     The movie is predictably boring, and my attention keeps going toward the whiteboard in the corner with all the schools on it. It looks like it's split between her and her roommates and has all their grad school stuff on it. It's somehow both insane and impressive how organized they are. Half the schools on the board I've never even heard of, but from what I know about Cassie they're all probably insanely competitive schools full of people who care about school the way she does.

     She must realize how zoned out I am because halfway into the movie, she asks if I want to order a pizza or something."You didn't even have to ask, I'll never say no to food. Especially pizza," I respond, immediately opening the website for Sailor Slices, the best local pizza place in the area.

     She scoots closer to me to see what I'm ordering, and without even asking yanks my phone out of my hand, "Hey," I call out in shock.

     "You're doing it wrong," she responds, typing something and swiping on my phone.

     "It's ordering pizza, how am I doing it wrong?"

     She sighs, "Sailor Slices does a discount if you put your student number in, but you have to do it before you select a pizza."

     "They do what," I ask, "You are not telling me that I could've been getting cheaper pizza for the last four years."

     "You're right I'm not telling you, I'm showing you," she replies smiling as she shakes my phone in my face, with a much cheaper price than I'm used to.

     "Wait," I say before she hits the order button, "What type of pizza are you getting?"

     "Meat lovers," she responds, "Please tell me you're not one of those people who only likes like cheese pizza."